Christmas Eve Offering
For the past 35 years our Christmas Eve services have been a celebration of the gift of Jesus as well as a time to bless others through the generosity of our church family. This year we are focusing on 15 local and 8 global projects serving people in a variety of Kingdom ways.
$275,000
2020 GOAL
GIVE NOW!
Online
Mail a check: Write “Christmas Eve” in the memo.
Local Organizations
18 South – Red Lion
$10,000
18 South ministers to broken and hurting teens of Red Lion. They have created a space in downtown Red Lion where teens on the margins of community can go to feel safe, accepted, and, most importantly, experience the love of Christ. Money from the Christmas Eve offering will go toward the ongoing operating cost of the facility.
Compassion York – York City
$5,000
Compassion York provides weekly meals to people in York who are food insecure. Each Sunday evening, 50 to 150 families come for a meal. Living Word volunteers provide these meals four to six times per year; the rest of the year other churches help with this effort. Funding from the Christmas Eve offering will support these weekly meals.
Our Daily Bread – York City
$5,000
Our Daily Bread is a soup kitchen that offers breakfast and lunch each weekday. On average, they serve 284 meals per day. With increased food insecurity due to COVID-19, this service is needed more than ever in York County.
Good News Prison Ministry – York City
$5,000
This ministry in the York County Jail consists of chaplains who minister to prisoners and prison staff. From Bible studies to one-on-one counseling, they help meet the spiritual needs of the prison population. These funds will help ensure the program’s continuation.
Habitat for Humanity – West York
$5,000
York Habitat for Humanity is a volunteer-driven, Christian housing ministry that builds safe, clean, and affordable homes in partnership with lower-income York County residents living in substandard housing.
House of Hope – Glen Rock
$10,000
House of Hope brings hope, healing, and restoration to hurting teens and their families. They seek to model Christ’s love by providing spiritual guidance, education, counseling, and mentoring, which allows teens to re-enter society able to cope with the challenges of everyday life.
Jessica and Friends – East York
$5,000
Jessica and Friends provides faith-based services and support for individuals and families with autism and intellectual disabilities. They seek to be a community that affirms the worth of all people, supports personal growth and wholeness, advocates for community and church inclusion, and provides opportunities for spiritual growth and service.
Journey to Joy – York
$15,000
As a local “safe house” of sorts, Journey to Joy provides residential help for women and children who have been victims of abuse. The ministry’s mission is to bring healing and wholeness to those wounded, abused, or struggling with life-controlling issues through biblical principles, prayer, and the working of the Holy Spirit.
Katallasso – York City
$20,000
Katallasso cares for people in critical need of behavioral health services. Among new patients seen at the clinic, there is an alarming rise in patients suffering from distress, anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. Patients with no insurance and limited resources are unable to get the care they need, which leaves them at great risk.
Ladder to the Light – York City
$15,000
This ministry focuses on men who have experienced brokenness, whether through addiction, incarceration, homelessness, or a combination of all of these. Latter to the Light is a residential facility that shares the hope that comes through a personal relationship with Christ with these men.
Lifepath – York City
$15,000
Lifepath Christian Ministries (formerly York Rescue Mission) exists to extend the love of Christ to our neighbors in need by providing food, shelter, and a connection to support services. The funds will be used for the continuing daily operations of the ministry.
Logos Academy – York City
$20,000
Logos Academy in York provides K-12 education from a classic Christian perspective. Due to COVID-19, Logos has needed to adapt to how students receive education. Funds from the Christmas Eve offering will help build the technology infrastructure to support the changing in-person and remote learning needs of students.
Miss Bobbi’s Place – York City
$15,000
There are few homeless shelters in York City that cater to the needs of an entire family unit. Often times families are separated while they get back on their feet during this time of incredible need. Miss Bobbi’s Place is a new initiative that will provide apartment-style units that families can live in while they receive the resources needed to live independently. Funds from the Christmas Eve offering will be used to complete the first two units to be occupied in 2021.
Servants – York
$10,000
Living Word has partnered with Servants for the past three years, helping widows, single parents, disabled persons, and the elderly with home projects that provide for health and safety. Servants has volunteer teams working on these projects and Living Word provides some of those volunteers twice a month.
Young Lives – York
$10,000
Young Lives is a ministry of Young Life in York that works with teen mothers, providing spiritual hope and help with needs such as diapers and personal care products. Funds from the Christmas Eve offering will be used to purchase these and other needed supplies for mothers.
Global Organizations
COVID-19 Relief – Cuba
$15,000
Living Word has a decade-long relationship with a vibrant church planting movement in Cuba. One partner church in one of the many cities is creating a self-sustaining food program (primarily livestock) for some of the poorest of the poor in the church and in the community. Due to COVID-19 and government polices, there is massive inflation and severe food shortages throughout Cuba.
Construction – Dire Dawa, Ethiopia
$20,000
Living Word helped start this church 30 years ago in the predominantly Muslim city of Dire Dawa. Through Pastor Miskir they minister to the physical, health, and spiritual needs of the Muslim community. As a result of their efforts, the church is growing and they need additional space. Two ministries will be helped by the construction of a new building: “Visionary Generation” which brings together hundreds of youth from the city and a two-year Leadership School for students of the nearby university.
Sound System – Dire Dawa, Ethiopia
$5,000
The Dire Dawa church is in need of a new sound system for the growing congregation. Funds from the Christmas Eve offering will be used to purchase the system.
Guatemala – Disaster Relief
$10,000
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Guatemala has had a mandatory curfew in effect for months. This has caused food shortages in the rural villages where our ministry partners work. In addition, Guatemala has experienced two hurricanes in the past month that have resulted in flooding and mudslides that have displaced many villages. To add to the misery, the Pacaya Volcano is erupting in the central part of the country.
The “Return Home” Project – Jordan, Syria, Iraq
$10,000
In Jordan, Iraq, and Syria thousands and thousands of people have been displaced due to warfare and in 2020 due to COVID-19. The crisis has only deepened in the past 9 months. The “Return Home” project will provide resources for people to go back to their home country and re-establish their families. Our gift will provide educational supplies for children going back to school, hygiene products, clothes for the winter months, and seed and food to initially stock their shelves upon their return.
Neighbors 2 Nations (N2N) Community Center – Iraq
$20,000
Iraq has suffered from war, violence, and ISIS leaving many without hope or resources. N2N ministers to widows and orphans who are refugees displaced from their homes. This contribution will be used to provide training in practical skills; education; health services; and basic needs, including food, clothing, and housing.
N2N Church Plant – Iraq
$10,000
In 2020, a new church was birthed among Kurdish Christians in Iraq. The congregation meets every Friday in the N2N community center. The funds will be used to support their pastoral team in serving this church of vibrant, young believers. Funds will also be used to purchase discipleship tools and supplies.
Project Adopt-A-Village (PAAV) Team – Ethiopia
$20,000
Living Word adopted the town of Sendafa in Ethiopia 13 years ago to provide spiritual and medical help to those with HIV/AIDS. The PAAV team, led by Dr. Frew, has helped hundreds and hundreds of people recover from near death to lead lives of purpose and meaning. These funds will be used to continue to provide medications, food, clothing, educational materials, and assistance to HIV/AIDS patients and their families living in Sendafa.